The loud pounding of feet against the cement floor echoed in the mostly empty and dark hallways, their only light being rundown fluorescents beaming down into the dark. The sound of their sprinting only being cut through with the ear-splitting bang of a gunshot behind them. "Hurry up! Come on!" The man in the lead of the four runaways yelled. He took a sharp turn to the right, with the rest of the ragtag team following close behind him which caused one of them to slide into the wall a bit.
"How the fuck did this happen, huh, Skye?! I thought you said you had a plan!" The man last in the group snapped, his voice nearly being overpowered by a loud boom as the first man threw open the door in front of them, slamming it into the wall.
"You're one to fucking talk, Jack! Who would have guessed that I can only do my job correctly if I'm given the right information!" Skye yelled back at him, being quick to follow in the footsteps of the man leading them into the room. It seemed like a plain, and for the most part, empty office. All it had was a small desk with a lamp sat on top, a tucked-in chair, and abandoned file cabinets.
"Can you two shut the fuck up?! Jack, lock the door. Skye, help me move this desk. Elliot, I need you to figure out where we need to go next." The man in the lead quickly demanded of all of them, trying his best to keep the situation under control. "Jack, I need you to make sure Elliot can focus."
"You got it, Damian," Jack responded with slight breathiness in his voice from their sprint. With Jake quickly sliding into the room, he shut the door behind them and locked it. "Alright, El, don't let us down. You got this." He said, swiftly shifting past Skye and Damian as they paired up to move the desk in front of the door with the lamp being discarded to the floor. "Just uh..a gentle reminder though that if you fuck up, there's a great possibility of us all dying. No pressure though." Jack commented with sarcasm in his voice as he grabbed the chair and moved it to the back of the room.
Elliot's icy blue eyes narrowed at Jack, throwing daggers at his back as he got the chair. "Wow, you don't say? I had no clue!" He sneered, walking over towards the back of the room where Jack set up the chair and sat down, tucking in his legs under him and crossing them over each other. With him finally being settled, he closed his eyes with a steady breath out to focus.
"Jesus, this team's a fucking mess..." Skye muttered under her breath as she and Damian sat the desk down in front of the door. This is why I prefer to work with the people I pick. Elliot was fine, but why the fuck did we have to pick up Damian and Jack? She thought to herself with a soft sigh of disappointment. Now wasn't the time to think of their past mistakes though. All of them had gone through their ammo and were left with empty pistols. Their last hope to get out of this situation was Elliot and Damian.
"Come on, Elliot, we need an update. They'll figure out we're in here soon. What do you see?" Skye asked, directing her attention towards him in the back.
Elliot's eyes shot open with white glazing over his eyes, completely replacing any color his eyes had including the black of his pupils. Using his powers allowed him to freely check out the rest of the building from where he was sitting via astral projection. He could see his own body sitting in the chair, with everyone anxiously waiting for him to find a solution. Right now, he had to focus on finding another empty room. His spirit floated through the wall and back into the hallway.
There, he could see the blurry, pitch-black shadows of those who were chasing them in the hallway earlier. Elliot's ability prohibited him from seeing any details other than basic shapes in black and white. The lack of good lighting certainly wasn't helping either. His semi-translucent spirit drifted behind their seekers, feeling particularly glad they couldn't see spirits as he started searching for rooms they may have already checked and wouldn't have checked again.
He quickly moved through the dark hallway, keeping a lookout for any possible escape option. Come on...There's gotta be something... He thought to himself before finally, nearly all the way back where they first got discovered, was a room they could use as their getaway. It would be hard, especially with how much energy he's already used, but they didn't have much of a choice. "Found it..." His body finally softly whispered to the groups he felt his body tug on his spirit and slingshotting back into it.
As his spirit reunited with his body, it caused him to gasp and slightly jump from the sudden change and sensation. His eyes shifted back to his normal color, bringing back his blue irises and black pupils, but paled his face as it took some energy out of him. "There's a room...It's pretty far back, but I should be able to make it." He informed everyone, glancing between his three other teammates.
There was a collective breath of relief as they heard Elliot had an escape plan, all of them knowing they didn't have much more time before they would have found them in this room. After all, the desk wouldn't have been able to do much against those who were looking for them.
"Nice job, El. Let's hurry up and get out of here." Skye told him, walking over towards the back of the room and putting a hand on his left shoulder. "Just a little bit more and we'll be out of here." She reassured him, with Damian and Jack following suit and reaching out for Elliot as well.
Once everyone had a connection with his body, Elliot took a deep breath. He knew this was going to be a bit hard, especially so quickly after he just reconnected with his body. However, they didn't have many other options. All of the sudden, a flash of light filled the room in just a blink of an eye, immediately taking over any darkness that was in the room. A glow of light spilled out from the gap under the door to their room, alerting those searching for them.
"Da sind sie!" (There they are!) One of the searchers exclaimed, immediately reaching for her glock and making sure its safety was off and cocked. "Lass sie nicht entkommen!" (Don't let them escape!) The minute she spoke up about their location, heads turned and rushed towards the door, only to find it wouldn't budge. "Holen Sie sich diese Tür nach unten! Eile!" (Get this door down! Hurry!)
Further down the hallway, in a distant room, was the split second spark of white light that filled the room once again. However, this light brought with it the ragtag team of four. With all of them instantly teleporting over with Elliot's rundown and weak energy made their reappearance chaotic and rough. The second Jack appeared, his body bumped into a covered bookshelf that had an inch of dust on it. "Shit!"
Being disoriented in the dark and unbalanced caused him to accidentally push over Elliot, who in turn, tried to cling onto Skye to stay upright. With a loud crash, all three of them went tumbling to the floor. "What are you doing, Jack?!" Damian snapped lowly, quietly rushing towards the door and putting his ear up to it to try and hear if they were heard.
"Oh, I'm sorry, your highness! Maybe if Elliot didn't teleport us to a shitty location I wouldn't have tripped!' Jack retorted, pushing himself off the floor and dusting himself off.
"Don't go blaming Elliot, Jack! He saved us! He's been more helpful than you all night!" Skye scoffed, picking herself up as well and reaching her hand out to help Elliot up. With how much energy he used, she knew he would struggle to get up himself.
"Excuse me?! I know a fucking shifter didn't just tell me that! I knew this mission was a mistake when they let you in! Leave it to a shapeshifter to screw everything up. How about next time, you leave it to actual supernatural beings?"
"You two! Shut the fuck up already before I make sure you two stay silent permanently!" Damian threatened, trying to stay quiet as he attempted to listen closely over their voices. Trying to stay under control and not too irritated, he left out a shaky breath from irritation to collect himself. "It sounds like the coast is clear. If you two are going to fight, do that shit later and not when we're trying to say hidden. We should be able to make a run for it since the original plan's exit is nearby. Does someone need to carry him?" He asked, glancing down to Elliot who was struggling to stand up even with Skye's help.
Despite her rage at Jack's comments, she simply clenched her jaw to prevent an argument for now. "I'll be able to get him," Skye mumbled, putting an arm around him with Elliot's arm over her shoulders for support. "Let us go first. Damian, you watch our backs in case they notice us. You'll be our best bet at fending them off. You ready, El?" Seeing a small nod from Elliot was their greenlight. It was now or never.
With Damian cracking the door open and glancing outside into the hallway, even with it being dark, he could see the distant shadows focused on the room they were previously in. "Go." He whispered, cracking the door open enough that Skye and Elliot could get through.
With Elliot being so exhausted, it was mostly Skye getting him moving with him barely limping along. It was hard enough to be holding up most of his weight and helping him move, but trying to stay somewhat lowered so they didn't get spotted while being able to support him was harder. Behind them, Jack followed with Damian in the back, crouch walking to try and stay more inconspicuous and hoping the lack of proper lighting would keep them out of sight.
The minute they got out of line of sight from the guards, they straightened up and started walking more briskly, trying to stay silent as they moved as quickly as they could. Jack took the lead as they neared the exit door, opening it for Skye and Elliot with Damian quick behind them. "Just making sure this wasn't for nothing...We did get it, right?" He questioned, silently closing the door behind them as they moved out from the decrepit building and back towards the direction of their car.
"Despite what you may think of shifters, Jack, yes. I did pick it up. In fact, I think you forgot who's mission this was. Oh yeah, that's right. Ivo left it to me. I wonder why he left it to a shapeshifter instead of you?" She commented, rolling her eyes as they trudged away from the building and closer to safety with each step.
Nearly instantly Jack's eyes glared at her, his jaw clenching in frustration before lightening up, a light laugh escaping his lips. " I'm sorry, what did you just say? Did you really think this mission was successful? Maybe not for you, but it will be for me." With almost a light hum of confidence in his voice, his hand reached down to his side where his gun was resting in its holster. His hand wrapped around the grip, pulling it out and aiming it towards Skye's chest. His finger laid loosely on the trigger, ready to pull it at any moment. "I'd really rather not have to worry about a mess, so how about you make my job easy and hand the files over, shifter."
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Authors Note -
Thank you guys so much for the love and support everyone's been giving me and my book! I really hope you guys enjoy the first chapter, but I can assure you I have many other ideas for the future! This is simply the tip of the iceberg for my book! I made it a little extra long since it took me a little longer than I thought to get it finished, but I hope everyone enjoys it! Please remember to add my story to your reading list if you're interested in more to get updates! Any votes and comments are always greatly appreciated! ❤️